Ready to assemble (“RTA”) or “knock down” furniture is furniture that is assembled by the end consumer. RTA furniture is typically more economical than pre-assembled furniture, because it is easier to ship and is less expensive for the manufacturer to create. RTA furniture can be sold in chain department stores, because the unassembled pieces can be shipped in more compact packaging. Some upscale, or “high end” furniture also comes to the store or customer in a ready to assemble form. In high end versions, store personnel assembles the furniture at the customer's home upon delivery.
Headboards are pieces of bedroom furniture that are usually not sold as knock down furniture. Headboards include a rigid frame that is not readily portable. Most headboards are sold with a bedroom set and are required to be delivered to the customer's home fully assembled. This is especially true of upholstered headboards. Some upholstered headboards are even customized to match a homeowner's bedroom décor.
Slipcovers for headboards are known. Most slipcovers are designed for one particular type of cushioned headboard and are not designed to be sold apart from the headboard. Slipcovers allow a user to create different looks by alternating between slipcovers with different designs or patterns while retaining the underlying headboard structure. This allows a user to easily and quickly change the look of a room with relative ease and low cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,032 describes a portable, readily assembled, easily upholstered headboard. The headboard has two posts, two inter-fitting rails which are readily assembled and locked to the posts without tools. The headboard includes a muslin covered cushioned panel having a backing rigid sheet with rail-engaging formations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,349 describes a fabric covered knock-down headboard for beds. The headboard frame includes a pair of side members temporarily held together by separable center sections. The center sections are of varying lengths. A fabric cover is formed from front and rear panels slightly greater in length than the length of the headboard frame. The cover is seamed around the top and side edges. The bottom edges of the panels are initially separated to allow the cover to slide over the frame, but when in place, are secured by hook and loop fastening mechanisms.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,159,253 describes a modular headboard and method of assembly. The modular headboard includes an upper headboard section and a lower headboard section selectively coupled together for convenient storage and transportation. The upper headboard includes laterally spaced, vertically extending upper post sections and a headboard panel extending there between. The lower headboard section includes corresponding lower post sections, with cross rails extending between the sections. A laterally extending slat overlaps adjacent edges of the upper and lower headboard sections to facilitate alignment of the upper and lower headboard sections, and is secured to the headboard sections to form a stable headboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,234 describes a collapsible headboard, ideally for use with an inflatable mattress. The collapsible headboard is intended to prevent pillows from falling off of the mattress. The collapsible headboard includes a frame assembly being selectively actuated between a collapsed position and a deployed position. The frame assembly is actuated to the collapsed position for facilitating storage for the frame assembly when the frame assembly is removed from the mattress. A panel member is designed for being positioned against the mattress whereby the panel member is for inhibiting pillows from sliding off of the mattress when the frame assembly is in the deployed position.
None of the apparatus mentioned above describe a knock down headboard to be constructed by an end user comprising a left side headboard section, a right side headboard section, at least one middle headboard section and support posts attachable to a bed frame wherein the middle headboard section includes an aperture for receiving attachment means to secure the middle headboard section to the left and right side headboard sections.
The apparatuses discussed above also do not describe a ready to assemble headboard kit for an expandable headboard comprising a left side headboard section, a right side headboard section, at least one middle headboard section and support posts attachable to a bed frame wherein the middle headboard section includes an aperture for receiving attachment means to secure the middle headboard section to the left and right side headboard sections. Moreover, none of the known prior art references disclose an expandable headboard that is padded and covered with fabric and also includes a decorative slipcover for a resulting headboard that appears to be tailored or custom made.
None of the prior art methods solve the problem of making a ready to assemble headboard that is capable of fitting different size mattresses, yet being packaged so that a store, and the resulting customer, can easily transport the packaged headboard. The references also do not disclose a ready to assemble headboard and kit where the headboard is expandable yet easily assembled to result in a cushioned, fabric slipcovered headboard with a custom look.